Taha Khedro

Agent-based framework for integrated facility engineering

An agent-based framework for the development of integrated facility engineering environments in support of collaborative design is introduced. This framework aims at integrating design software by allowing better software interoperability. Within their framework, design agents represent various existing design and planning systems that communicate their design information and knowledge partially and incrementally using the Agent Communication Language (ACL). ACL is a formal language proposed as a communication standard for disparate software. It is based on a logic-based language called Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF) and a message protocol called Knowledge Query Manipulation Language (KQML). Design agents are linked and their communication of design information is coordinated via system programs called facilitators in a federation architecture. The federation architecture specifies the way design agents and facilitators communicate in an integrated software environment. In concert with pursuing fundamental research concepts, we have been developing an integrated design software environment that spans different phases of the facility life cycle. This environment serves to demonstrate the primary aspects of this research methodology. In this paper, we first discuss the integration problem and review related research projects. We then present the major aspects of agent-based software engineering methodology and its application to integrated facility engineering. A highlight of the current integrated design environment development is given to illustrate the advantages of this approach. Finally, we summarize and discuss some of the important research issues in light of previous research.

The Federation Architecture for Interoperable Agent-based Concurrent Engineering Systems

This paper presents an approach to the development of concurrent engineering software applications based on a knowledge sharing technology. In this approach, individual programmers write their programs in the form of separate modules called software agents, which interoperate with their peers using an expressive communication standard called Agent Communication Language. The runtime activities of the individual software agents are coordinated by task-independent programs called facilitators. Facilitators perform a wide variety of tasks, including the automated selection of agents to accomplish subtasks, the mediation of terminology, the buffering of partial knowledge in communication between agents, and the management of communication with other facilitators on other machines. Once set in operation, software agents interoperate to accomplish the overall task in a heterogeneous distributed architecture called federation. The paper discusses the major aspects of this approach and briefly describes three concurrent engineering applications developed in light of this approach.

A distributed problem-solving approach to collaborative facility engineering

A framework for collaborative facility engineering is presented. The framework is based on a distributed problem-solving approach to collaborative facility engineering and employs an integration approach called Agent-Based Software Engineering as an implementation vehicle of this approach. The focal entity of this framework is a Multiagent Design Team (MDT) that comprises a collection of software agents (e.g. design software applications with a certain standard communication interface) and a design specialist, which together perform specific design tasks. Multiagent design teams are autonomous and form an organizational structure based on a federation architecture. Every multiagent design team surrenders its autonomy to a system program called facilitator, which coordinates the interaction among software agents in the federation architecture. Facilitators can be viewed as representatives of one or more teams that facilitate the exchange of design information and knowledge in support of the design tasks they perform. In the federation architecture, design specialists collaborate by exchanging design information with others via their software agents, and by identifying and resolving design conflicts by negotiation. In addition to a discussion of the frameworks primary components, its realization in an integrated distributed environment for collaborative building engineering is described.

Collaborative Distributed Building Engineering

This article presents a software environment for collaborative distributed building design and construction planning called CIFE WORLD. Its test domain and demonstration include conceptual architectural design, structural design, and construction planning of office buildings. CIFE WORLD provides eight designs and engineering applications that can be used by five project panicipants to collaborate on building design and construction in a geographically dispersed environment. The project forms a design group and a construction group, whose applications are organized based on a federated agent architecture. In this architecture. CIFE WORLDs applications are viewed as software agents, and their communication is mediated by a network of two facilitators. This article describes the CIFE WORLD environnment, examines the use of federated agent architecture for building design and construction planning, and reports on the experience gained from this development.